


Black Cat, Good Luck

by evaagna



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Black Cats, Lost Pets, M/M, it's incredibly silly and stupid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-02
Updated: 2017-11-02
Packaged: 2019-01-27 15:14:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12584672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evaagna/pseuds/evaagna
Summary: Cassian is a reluctant party host. Some idiot leaves the door ajar and lets his cat out. Jyn doesn't see what the big deal is; Kay will be back by morning, right? Because, right now, she needs tosleep.Oh, and that cute new guy down the hall? He maybe comes to the rescue.





	Black Cat, Good Luck

**Author's Note:**

> For the SniperPilotHalloween2017 Day 10 Prompt: Parties
> 
> Day-after-Halloween Halloween fic, anyone? ~~It's 11:02pm here, so I'm less than 24 hours late.~~

It’s one in the morning when people start to leave the party. It’s not even that late, which is better than Cassian would have expected, honestly. Some of his friends are more drunk than others, and some linger before heading out. He gets a little mixed up about who leaves when and with who, since everyone is dressed up in costumes, ranging from hilarious to truly lame, like his own. He’s still not entirely sure how he got talked into hosting this thing in the first place; expecting him to really go all out with the costume, too? That would have been asking too much.

Jyn - beautiful, wonderful Jyn - is the last to leave, promising to be back in the morning to help him clean up. After all, the party was her idea, so she explains that it’s only fair that she not leave too big of a mess for Cassian to deal with alone. He laughs and says that he’ll be counting on her help, then shuts the door behind her with a final wave.

He turns back to his living room with a sigh; Jyn had _better_ be here tomorrow to help clean up. There’s the usual scattered beer cans and red cups, but the whole place is also littered with little paper pumpkins and confetti bats. He’s pretty sure there’s a sparkly skeleton hanging somewhere, even, if the way that traces of glitter are sticking to everything is anything to go by. They’d maybe gone a little overboard with the kitschy decorating; who knew the dollar store would have such great deals on Halloween supplies?

For right now, though, all he wants to do is go straight to bed. He’s not especially drunk or anything, maybe pleasantly buzzed, but-- Hosting a party is a lot of work, okay? There’s a reason that Jyn had to talk him into it. Not that it wasn’t fun, in the end. All his friends came, and everyone seemed to have a great time.

He’d also invited _most_ of his neighbors, save a few who just really aren’t tolerable, and a handful had even shown up. The cute new guy from a few doors down wasn’t one of them, unfortunately, but he’d only just moved in maybe a week ago and, from what he’s seen of him so far, Cassian figures he’s just shy.

He mulls it over as he shuffles back through the living room. _Bed, now_ , some part of his mind insists, but then he pauses in the kitchen. Ah, right. He should probably feed Kay first. He’s pretty sure he forgot earlier and the cat is probably waiting for him with a disgruntled _look_. 

Usually Kay comes running straight over when he puts out fresh food; Cassian is worried that the cat has been getting a little fat lately. But tonight there’s no sign of him. The apartment is silent save for the usual ambient noises - the hum of the lamp in the lot just outside, the occasional thump of his upstairs neighbor doing...whatever it is they’re always doing up there. No soft pad of feet, no insistent meowing. 

Cassian frowns. Maybe he’s still hiding somewhere, disturbed by the party. Before he’d found him and brought him home, Cassian hadn’t realized that cats could get quite so _offended_. Kay probably ran off somewhere, exasperated with all the loud humans and their loud human antics. 

“Kay?” Cassian calls to him, shaking the food dish to draw him out from wherever he went. 

Still nothing.

Cassian sighs. So much for passing out and not worrying about anything until sometime late in the morning. He _knows_ the silly thing is just hiding - being willfully uncooperative - but now he's going to worry about it until he finds him. 

Hiding? Normal. Ignoring food? Definitely not. 

“Kay!” he calls again, then proceeds to tear the apartment upside down. He looks under the bed, in the closet, around the spare room, under the couch, behind the drier, even out on the balcony, but the cat is nowhere to be found. 

As many people as had been in an out of his apartment all night - friends, neighbors, friends of friends - someone must have left the door open by mistake and let Kay sneak out. Cassian’s mind immediately fills with worst-case scenarios. Come on, it’s the night before Halloween and-- He spares a glance at the clock on the front of the oven. No, it _is_ Halloween now, technically. But, the point is, everyone knows it isn’t safe for black cats to wander around Halloween time. He can’t get the image of some miscreant group of kids torturing the poor thing in the name of some tasteless practical joke out of his head. 

It’s not like Kay is helpless, though, and he knows that; he’s big, smart, and...well, kind of rude, even for a cat. He has what Jyn likes to call an “attitude problem,” which Cassian tirelessly defends as “just his personality.”

He calls Jyn anyway. She picks up on the last ring and sounds less than thrilled when she answers. “What is it, Cassian? I just got home; I want to go to sl--”

“Kay is missing,” he interrupts, “I can’t find him anywhere, Jyn! The door-- Someone must have-- And he must have escaped!”

She groans. “Hold on, slow down,” There’s a rustling sound over the phone, like she’s busy doing something that he interrupted. “You’re sure he’s not just hiding under the bed or something?”

“Jyn, it’s Halloween! What if some kids found him; they could be--” he starts, but Jyn cuts him short.

“Cassian, you live on the sixteenth floor-- He can’t have gone far,” she insists, “He just wandered off; I’m sure he’s fine,” There’s a pause, and he hears more shuffling in the background. “Look, if he hasn’t come back by the morning, call me and we’ll look for him, okay?”

Cassian sighs and nods. “Yeah, okay,” he agrees reluctantly. She has a point, though. What’s the likelihood that Kay escaped into the hall and, what-- Got into the stairwell? Made it all the way downstairs and out of the building? Or maybe got in a vent somewhere?

He groans. _Worst case scenario_ , he reminds himself. Kay’s probably just hiding somewhere Cassian didn’t think to look, or-- He grimaces and looks at the door. It’s almost three in the morning, there’s not a lot he can do about it right now, anyway. But--

Okay, okay. He’ll just take a quick peek around and then, if he doesn’t see any signs of the cat, he’ll go to bed and keep looking in the morning. Just to put his mind at ease. 

The floor’s shared hallway is perpetually lit by a series of fluorescent lights, even now in the middle of the night, so it quickly becomes apparent that he’s not going to find Kay out here, either. Still, he heads down the hall to check by the elevator and maybe the stairwell really quickly. Only, he forgets that two of his neighbors, Shara and Kes - the ones with the young son - have Halloween decorations outside their door. He trips on the little plastic jack-o-lantern, stubbing his toe and letting out a string of profanities. 

Can this night _get_ any worse?

One of his neighbor’s doors cracks open, and Cassian prepares to hiss out an apology about the disturbance and the late hour, but then the cute new guy pops his head out and he stops short. The guy’s dark hair is piled at the nape of his neck in a messy attempt at a bun and he’s dressed in an oversized navy sweatshirt that slips to the side off one shoulder and what must be really, really short shorts. He looks sleepy and soft and-- Cassian has to bite his lip to stop himself from staring, or from saying something incredibly stupid, whichever; he should really get back to apologizing, probably.

But as he tries to, the man yawns and starts, “Umm-- I’m sorry, but are you...ah, you aren’t looking for a cat, are you?”

Cassian sucks in a breath. This is just his luck. “A big black cat, yeah. Did you see him?”

“He’s...wait here, one sec--” He disappears back into his apartment, leaving Cassian standing awkwardly out in the hall. There’s a cry from behind the door, a muffled, “Hey-- wait!” and the sound of a scramble. Cassian winces; he has no idea what’s going on in there, but it doesn’t sound good. Fortunately, the man re-emerges a moment later, slightly out of breath and arms full of an enormous ball of black fur. “Is this him?”

“Kay!” Cassian’s eyes light up. “You stupid cat, where have you been!” He laughs, voice full of affection, as he scoops up the struggling creature. Kay squawks indignantly at him and Cassian rolls his eyes. “Thank you so much for keeping him safe,” He turns back to his neighbor, beaming. “I could kiss you!”

He doesn’t miss how the man’s face goes bright red. “Oh, well--” He laughs nervously. “It was really no big deal.” 

Cassian sucks in a breath, realizing that he still doesn’t actually know this guy’s name. If he’s interested for reasons beyond simply being a polite neighbor, no one need know. “Sorry,” He shifts Kay in his arms to free up one hand. The cat has settled down and is purring contentedly, a steady hum against his chest. Thankfully, the motion doesn’t seem to bother him too much. “Cassian Andor,” he introduces, “I’m in number three, just down the hall.”

“Bodhi Rook,” The man - Bodhi - takes his hand and smiles. It’s a nice smile, too, some part of Cassian’s mind points out. A really nice smile. “I just moved into seven here,” He gestures to the door, then makes a face. “Well… _obviously_.” He rubs the back of his neck uncomfortably, like he’s embarrassed by his own awkwardness. Which, well, Cassian could say the same thing, standing here at quarter to four in the morning, bothering his neighbors with arms full with an enormous, temperamental feline. “Yeah, but your cat. He was meowing at my door-- like _super_ loudly, and when I opened it he just sort of...invited himself in,” he explains, “I didn’t know which unit he came from or what.”

Cassian grimaces. “Yeah, he’s kind of, uh, stubborn; sorry about that. And I’m sorry for waking you up.”

“Oh, no, no; it’s fine, I wasn’t asleep, anyway. I was…” He trails off, glances over his shoulder surreptitiously. “It doesn’t really matter, but you didn’t wake me.”

“But still,” Cassian doesn’t miss the slightly stilted comment, but he ignores it for now. “At least let me treat you to breakfast or something-- Do you have any plans tomorrow?” He glances at his watch. “Uh, maybe a late breakfast, at this point?”

Bodhi’s brow twists into a little frown. He looks confused, then shy, but then laughs. “Yeah, okay,” The smile is back, and Cassian can’t help but grin just at seeing it. “Breakfast it is, then.”

“Great!” They work out a few details, exchange numbers, and then Cassian thanks him again, squeezing the cat close. “Again, I’m so glad you found him; I was so worried.”

“Really,” Bodhi emphasizes, “Not a problem.” 

Cassian quirks a little smile at that. It’s getting late, and he supposes they’ve run out of things to say for now. “Goodnight, Bodhi; see you tomorrow.”

Bodhi turns back into his apartment, pausing to glance over his shoulder one more time before shutting the door. He catches his bottom lip with his teeth, failing to hold back a shy smile. “ ‘Night, Cassian.”

**Author's Note:**

> So this started as an incidentally trick-or-treating related fic, but then that fell through, so I went back to the party prompt instead. It's still only incidentally related to the prompt buuuuut... Also, it started out as established relationship (which is where the ringtone suggestions came in!), but then that didn't quite work out either, so I ended up writing another meetcute somehow. But expect to see one of those ringtones show up in another fic sometime soon!
> 
> Anyway, this is my last fill for Sniperpilot Halloween! Great work everyone! I hope you all had as much fun as I did!


End file.
